National Blog

CBO Director: Ron Paul (and C4L) are right

Well, he didn't really say exactly that, but Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf's recent congressional testimony on the national debt does confirm what Dr. Paul has been saying for years (h/t Breitbart):

“Although the deficits in our baseline projections remain roughly stable as a percentage of GDP through 2018, as I noted, they rise after that. The deficit in 2025 is projected to be $1.1 trillion, or 4% of GDP, and cumulative deficits over the 2016 to 2025 period are projected to total $7.6 trillion. We expect that federal debt held by the public will amount to 74% of GDP at the end of this fiscal year, more than twice what it was at the end of 2007, and higher than in any year since 1950. By 2025, in our baseline projections, federal debt rises to nearly 79% of GDP. When CBO last issued long-term budget projections in the summer, we projected that, under current law, debt would exceed 100 percent of GDP 25 years from now, and would continue on an upward trajectory thereafter. That trend that could not be sustained. Such large and growing federal debt would have serious negative consequences, including increasing federal spending for interest payments, restraining economic growth in the long term, giving policymakers less flexibility to respond to unexpected challenges, and eventually heightening the risk of a fiscal crisis” he stated.

Translation: Unless Congress starts enacting Real Cuts, Right Now, the US is heading for a major economic calamity... in other words, we need to start listening to Ron Paul.

CBO Director Elmendorf did not mention how increasing debt will put pressure on the Federal Reserve to monetize the debt by increasing its purchase of Treasury securities and thus increasing the money supply, but this is a major reason why we should be concerned about the debt. If you think the American people deserve to know how the federal debt is impacting the Federal Reserve's monetary policy, please support Campaign for Liberty's efforts to pass Audit the Fed by supporting our Moment of Truth Money Bomb-- and remember, thanks to a generous donor, your donation to the money bomb before midnight tonight will be doubled!